Always Knock First
by Cat and Fiddle
Summary: After Kiba nearly dies on a mission and Shino saves him, he begs Shino to teach him the lifesaving medical technique used. During their lessons Kiba realizes he has feelings for Shino, but what will this mean for his relationship with Shikamaru?
1. Chapter 1: The

**Story Summary:** After Kiba nearly dies on a mission and Shino saves him, he begs Shino to teach him the life-saving medical technique used. During their lessons he realizes he has feelings for Shino, but what will this mean for Shikamaru and Kiba's relationship? Set during time gap, between _Kiba's Birthday Present_ and _Make Your Move_.

**Pairings:** Kiba x Shikamaru and Kiba x Shino

**Rating:** M for yaoi content and fighting

**Chapter Summary: **There's a good reason you use the door and always knock first, Shino realized.

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**Chapter Pairing(s): **Kiba x Shikamaru

**Chapter Rating: **M for yaoi content

**Author's Note:** Kind of in between _Kiba's Birthday Present_ and _Make Your Move_. Basically, it's what happened and why Kiba broke up with Shikamaru for Shino.

I really fought with myself over making this a multi-chapter story...

**Disclaimer:** Haven't we already covered that I don't own Naruto?

* * *

**Always Knock First**

_Before you enter my life -- before you enter my heart._

* * *

_1: Surprise_

Akamaru watched helplessly as Kiba paced their room restlessly, hands deep in the pockets of his jacket and his chin tucked to his chest thoughtfully as he muttered to himself. The dog gave a soft whine, begging Kiba to come go to bed so they could get what rest they could. Kiba spun on his heel, resolutely marching in the other direction, ignoring Akamaru. His thoughts tormented him. Unconsciously, he snarled under his breath, causing Akamaru to whimper and shy away. Kiba noticed this and sighed, snaking out a hand to comfort the pup.

Akamaru wagged his tail hopefully.

"Go ahead and get some sleep, Akamaru," he instructed, tugging on his shoes, "I'm going to Shikamaru's."

Akamaru made a low, guttural sound in his throat, loath to see Kiba leave. Ever since Kiba started dating Shikamaru, Akamaru found himself sleeping alone more and more often. Kiba spared him one more glance and a smile before ruffling the dog's hair and exiting through a window.

He did not want to deal with Ma at this ungodly hour.

He found the window to Shikamaru's room open, as it always was when the weather faired well. The Nara boy was, surprisingly, still up. Kiba watched silently from his perch in the window as Shikamaru literally pressed his nose to the pages of his book, trying to read by the wan and flickering light offered by a dripping candle. Kiba grinned, clambering into the room as Shikamaru sighed and snapped his book shut, deftly depositing it beneath the mattress. Kiba quirked a brow, folding his arms over his chest as he stepped around the moderate clutter on the shadow nin's floor.

"That's an odd place to keep a book, Shikamaru," he observed, "Even by my standards." Shikamaru shrugged, sitting up and stretching, unfazed. Kiba frowned. "What're you doin' up so late, anyways?"

"Reading- didn't you see the book?" Shikamaru asked, yawning and scratching the back of his head idly. "Besides, wouldn't you rather I were awake?"

Kiba shrugged, taking a seat at the foot of Shikamaru's bed. "I guess." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at this and Kiba scowled. He studied Shikamaru's room, relaxing in the companionable silence. Shikamaru stifled another yawn.

"Shikamaru," Kiba asked, uncharacteristically softly, "What could make a simple patrol mission A-rank?"

Shikamaru thought for a moment. "High possibilities of enemy ninja, warfare," he says. After a moment, he added in a teasing tone, "A lack of skill and vigilance on the part of the shinobi doing the scouting."

Kiba snorted indignantly, "Well, I don't have to worry about that." He glanced at Shikamaru who was grinning surreptitiously as if he might be thinking otherwise. Kiba narrowed his eyes. "Don't even think-"

"Oh, but I am!" Shikamaru cooed, not attempting to feign innocence in the least. Kiba growled in mock anger, tackling Shikamaru and pinning the lazy nin by the wrists. He grinned.

"We'll see how long that _thinking_ of yours lasts," he challenged and Shikamaru's eyes widened. The shorter ninja squirmed beneath Kiba.

"Kiba!" he hissed, "My parents are home!"

Kiba's feral grin only widened. He leaned in close, ghosting his lips over Shikamaru's neck in prelude to what would follow. "Better keep quiet, then," he whispered huskily into Shikamaru's ear, tongue flicking out to taste the tangy metal of the Nara's earring.

He let go of the boy's wrists and Shikamaru immediately clamped them over his mouth, knowing full well he had little control over his moans and shouts during sex with Kiba. As it were, his hands barely muffled his strangled cry as Kiba's mouth bit down on a tender part of his neck, sucking and licking expertly.

Kiba ran his hands up the other's sides, dragging the overlarge t-shirt Shikamaru wore with them. Shikamaru arched his back, allowing the shirt to be removed. Kiba immediately attacked Shikamaru's nipples with his mouth while his hands tangled in the boy's hair. Discreetly, he slipped the tie from the shadow nin's hair, letting it fall loose around his shoulders.

Kiba kissed and licked his way down Shikamaru's torso, continuing to stimulate Shikamaru's nipples with his hands. He paused to trace circles around the boy's navel with his tongue before continuing southward. He smirked when he discovered Shikamaru had not been wearing boxers beneath his night shirt. Shikamaru blushed embarrassedly, removing his hands and lifting his head to mutter an excuse; instead of words he issued a loud, guttural moan as Kiba's tongue flicked out to sample the precum before taking the entire erection in his mouth.

Kiba quickly covered the boy's mouth with his own hand. Shikamaru remembered his parents and clapped his own hands over Kiba's. Strangled groans of pleasure came from the Nara as Kiba attended to him and Kiba nearly yelped as Shikamaru took one of his own fingers into his mouth and swirled his tongue around it, sucking in an almost counter-rhythm to Kiba. He moaned around Shikamaru, reaching down with his free hand to stroke himself.

They were both nearing their climaxes, all thoughts of Shikamaru's parents sleeping downstairs lost as they moaned freely.

"Kiba! Oh--"

Kiba furrowed his brow, slow to realize as his mind tingled with the sensation of an almost orgasm. He heard Shikamaru gasp and felt him jerk away, one hand snatching up the blankets to cover himself and the other gathering his sweaty hair into a ponytail. Kiba glanced up at Shikamaru- the boy looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He slowly craned his neck to peer over his shoulder, the oncoming waves of euphoria hurriedly retreating. He gulped, trying to slip his hand out of his half-undone pants as secretly as he could.

"I did not realize-" a mildly flustered Shino attempted to explain. Slowly, Kiba turned around, facing his friend. Shino seemed to back up slightly, unsure whether to stay or escape by means of the still open window. Kiba gulped again, his throat suddenly dry. There was a heavy silence. Shino blinked a few times behind his shades, composing himself.

"Kiba, our shift starts in ten minutes," he said evenly, as though he hadn't seen anything. Kiba frowned.

"Already?" he asked, moving to redo his pants.

"Yes. I suggest you..." Kiba could only assume Shino gave him a once-over from behind the black spectacles, "Clean up and get your weaponry and Akamaru. I will meet you at the gate in exactly eight minutes."

Kiba blushed and muttered under his breath. Shino nodded and Kiba followed the older nin out the window without a second glance at Shikamaru, who was still beet red and frozen in shock of being discovered in the act- moaning and writhing like a woman.

Shikamaru gave a groan of despair, flopping back into the pillows, covering his hot face in shame.

On the brighter side, at least Shino wasn't the type to go and tell the whole town.

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**Well, how was that? Got some Kiba x Shikamaru action in there, neh (even though it's going to be a Shino x Kiba story later).**


	2. Chapter 2: Truth

**Chapter Summary:** It really was an A-rank patrol mission; can Shino and Kiba handle it?

**Chapter Pairing(s):** none

**Chapter Rating:** M for fighting and language (just to be safe)

**Author's Notes:** After the story got to be more than 5,000 words I decided it _did _need to be more than one chapter. Here you go; this has got to be the longest fight scene ever written...

By the way, if anyone knows any techniques that Shino has, other than his bugs, that would be great, because it was really difficult to put some variety into Shino's attacks (I think I failed at that anyways, though).

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Naruto... well, let's not go there, okay?

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**Always Knock First**

_Before you enter my life -- before you enter my heart_

* * *

2: Assault

Kiba growled and muttered to himself as he hurried home. He should have been more cautious, should have closed the window... Damnit, he should have remembered it was almost time for his mission to start! He chided himself as he leapt from roof to roof carelessly, causing more than one household to light up. Screw stealth; he was pissy and still safely inside the village. Stealth would have to wait for his mission.

"Fuck," he yelped, stumbling the last few yards into his room. He miraculously turned the stumble-hop into a twirl. Akamaru raised his head, expectantly, ready for their mission. If the state of Kiba's room was any indication, the ninken had not gotten any sleep while he was away. Kiba gave a strangled cry of frustration and set to work sifting through the mess scattered on the floor. Akamaru watched him innocently.

"Don't give me that," Kiba spat, uncovering his hitai-ate, "I know you did it." Akamaru whined and put his head down. Kiba unearthed his weaponry and shoved it all, in a jumbled mess, into his thigh container.

"Come on, Akamaru, we're going," he said tersely. Akamaru's ears perked up and he eagerly followed Kiba into the night.

"You're late," Shino greeted him stoically, not even looking at the approaching pair. Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Ch, only by ten seconds," he muttered. Shino gave a small shrug of acquiesce.

"Hello, Akamaru," he intoned as the large pup wound around his legs, begging for attention. Kiba made a small sound of annoyance that his dog should get a proper greeting and not himself. If Shino noticed, he did not say anything. Exactly a minute and fifty seconds passed and the first pair of patrol nin returned. They exchanged curt nods with their replacement cell.

Kiba watched Shino for the cue to go. It came and they sprang into the forest, immediately taking to the trees.

"So... what exactly are we looking for?" Kiba asked.

"Anything suspicious," Shino answered. Kiba snorted.

"That's real specific." Shino shrugged. They traveled in silence.

"Anou... Shino, why would this be an A-rank mission?" Kiba asked after a long while. "I mean, Fire Country's not at war or anything. Look, we've almost gone all the way around Konoha and we haven't met one single person! This is such a freakin' waste of-

"Shino?" The Bug boy frowned, an arm extended in front of Kiba, halting the dog-lover.

"There are shinobi ahead," he informed his teammate. Kiba squinted, trying to see.

"How did you-?"

"Kikaichu," he explained, "I sent them out before we left. While we made our round a group of unfamiliar ninja approached the gate."

"Then let's get them!" Kiba exclaimed, eager to fight. Shino restricted him.

"I have not yet determined if they are enemy ninja," he told him. Kiba hesitated, then nodded. He turned and watched the dark woods as he waited for Shino. Shino seemed tense.

"... It seems there are three of them," Shino relayed to Kiba. Kiba glanced at his partner and could vaguely define the lines of a frown in the older boy's face. "They are strong--! Kiba. They are enemy ninja, fighting for Orochimaru."

"What!?" Kiba hissed back, bristling. Shino put a hand on his shoulder, concentrating.

"It seems they are going to wait for tomorrow night to launch their assault... they are coming this way. Prepare yourself."

They flitted away in opposite directions, assuming hidden positions in the foliage. As Shino said, the enemy nin strolled into the clearing moments later, unguarded and bickering amongst themselves. Kiba quickly sized them up and attempted to guess their attacks, as Shino had taught him to do. Through trial and error he had learned to just trust what Shino said when it came to tactics and fighting.

The first ninja seemed rather young, her hair a deep black, reaching almost to her thighs. Surely that would get in the way of fighting- then she turned around. She scanned the clearing and both boys felt a chill pass over them when she passed over their positions with cool calculation. Her eyes were pitch black, even where they should have been white. Half of her face was marked up with black ink and her entire left arm was black. The second was a man of great stature- taller than Kakashi, surely. He wore his hair in a tight samurai's knot on his head. There were deep lines in his skin, signaling not great age but great struggle and sorrow in his life. The third and final member of the group was a rather androgynous looking character- somewhere near the average of their teammates' heights, with a rather moody air.

The group practically spelled trouble.

"I don't see why we should have to wait 'till tomorrow night!" the androgynous character grumbled, folding his arms behind his head. Kiba raised his brows at the awkward angles it bent them- the thing was limber, to say the least. "We're already here and the security sucks. Let's just get it over with now."

"No," the tallest said, crossing his arms over his chest. The androgynous figure sulked, but didn't complain. So the tall man was the leader, Shino assumed. He flicked his eyes over to Kiba, but the boy seemed intensely focused on the group's conversation.

Good, Kiba was developing constructive combat habits.

"We have to wait for the other cells to arrive," the man continued, as though he had given this lecture a thousand times already. The blonde, gender-confused member pouted cutely, but maintained his silence. The girl fidgeted uncomfortably. Her teammates watched her silently as she seemed to itch herself in an awkward manner. It wasn't until her team members made quick retreats that Shino realized it was a dance; his Kikaichu hummed loudly in response.

"Kiba!" he growled, leaping into the clearing, already throwing his arms out, ready to release his bugs. He frowned when Kiba did not immediately appear at his side, but continued with his assault anyways. The kikaichu swarmed the girl and Shino began to search for the other shinobi.

He couldn't suppress a small shout of surprise mingled with pain when a heavy object collided painfully with his temple. He stumbled back a few steps, pressing a hand to his bleeding temple, and realized his kikaichu were unable to approach the girl. They would come within a certain distance then go berserk and throttle each other. Shino quickly called them back, cursing lightly under his breath- _where was Kiba?_

A senbon whizzed by his ear, clipping the lobe painfully. Shino whirled around, preparing his kikaichu for another assault. They buzzed inanely, pushing and stretching his skin to its limits painfullyn; they were confused. Cursing again- slightly more audibly this time- Shino slapped exploding tags on two kunai and chucked them in the direction of two unfamiliar chakra traces. He caught sight of two shadows flicking out of the way before a burst of white pain issued from the back of his head, gleaning his attention. He spun to face the girl, still dancing in a somewhat dizzy step.

After staring for a minute, Shino realized the air around her was shimmering oddly. He barely dodged the flying circle that had already thwarted him twice (the wounds were still throbbing); a pendant, he realized, hanging from the tie in her hair. Whenever she spun- there, it was coming again- it swung in a wide arc, fast and deadly. Shino began to wonder what the hell Kiba was doing when a spray of senbon interrupted the thought. He just dodged them when the pendant (a lovely shade of green) collided with his arm.

Shino could have sworn he heard a crack- and it definitely wasn't the pendant.

He tried to summon his bugs again, but they thrummed dazedly and refused to respond. Shino withheld a strangled cry of frustration as he dodged a barrage of senbon and the pendant. Then he noticed how drunk and warm he felt inside, oddly giddy considering he was being ass-beaten at the moment. The shimmers in the air set off warning bells in his head and he leapt out of them, landing rather ungracefully on a branch in time to see the ground he had just been standing on explode. The tall man shot out, realized Shino wasn't there anymore, and halted his seal-forming, landing gracefully beside the blonde, who had suddenly appeared from within the bushes.

"Great, you old geezer, you missed him," the blonde said tersely. The man whacked him over the side of the head irately. Shino grimaced, breathing heavily. He was already ragged and tired and severely disabled without his insects, but there they were complacently arguing with each other. His eyes drifted over to the still drunkenly dancing girl.

Something shimmered just within the periphery of Shino's sight.

"Kiba!" he hissed, realizing what had been preoccupying his teammate for far too long. He was quickly at Kiba's side, shaking the nin. Kiba's eyes drooped lazily and a small amount of saliva dripped from the corner of his open mouth. He looked rather (comically) stoned. Shino shook Kiba a little harder.

The drunken, warm, nostalgic feeling began to fill him again. Suddenly, two-and-two fell into place; Shino gathered Kiba in his arms and sprung away, leaving the shimmering lights prey-less.

Once safely out of range, Shino shook Kiba. No response. Shino shook him harder. Still no response. Shino scowled and _slapped_ Kiba across the face. Kiba grunted, closing his mouth. Shino slapped him harder. Somewhere in the distance somebody laughed at the sound of it. Nevertheless, it worked its magic: Kiba snapped out of his stupor in a rage, actually punching Shino out of reflex. He blinked a few times, stupidly staring at the bloody mess of Shino's face (Shino quickly hid the wreckage behind a hand).

"Sh-Shino!" Kiba exclaimed, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to- I was just sitting there and suddenly I felt really good inside and, and, and... oh my god, I'm so sorry. I let you down! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry-"

"Kiba," Shino warned, shaking his head, realizing only too late that it was a bad idea to move his head at all, "They are still here. Where is Akamaru?"

"I sent Akamaru for help as soon as I started noticing I felt funny and couldn't move."

"That was good," Shino acknowledged, "Now all we have to do is hold them off until back-up arrives." Kiba frowned and examined Shino- a bloody mess.

"They're really friggin' strong," he observed. Shino wanted to roll his eyes, but nodded.

He decided to give Kiba a quick briefing of their opponents while they still had time.

"The girl uses some kind of dance to confuse things, but it's only effective if you stand in the shimmering air-" he waited for Kiba's snickering at the idea of shimmering air to subside, "- and there is a pendant in her hair that she uses to attack with from a distance while dancing." He indicated the mass of drying blood on his brow. Kiba frowned and nodded, becoming more serious.

Shino took this as a good sign. "The blonde uses senbon and the man attacks from underground while you're dodging. Currently, I am unable to use my kikaichu." Kiba frowned.

"That could be a problem," he mused. Shino would have smacked himself in the forehead had he not known it would hurt like hell to. Suddenly, he bristled.

"Kiba," he murmured, glancing around, "It's awfully quiet..."

"Behind you!" Kiba exclaimed, leaping out of the way. Shino glanced over his shoulder in time to flatten himself against the branch. The spray of senbon neatly clipped a few of his hairs. Instantly, he retaliated with a handful of shuriken, which were succeeded by a crossfire of kunai from Kiba.

Yes, they formed an affective team. Maybe they had a chance now.

Despite his throbbing head, Shino forced himself to get up and perform a few seals to replace himself with a log. When he assumed his hidden position among the foliage, Kiba was soon there. They glanced at each other to confirm, then wearily watched their replacements dodge senbon. Shino began to think something was off about this.

"Kiba!" he hissed, reacting just in time to catch the whirling pendant before it collided with Kiba's inattentive head. Shino's hand stung severely, but he held on. The kunoichi jerked, trying to get out of his hold. Kiba and Shino watched confusedly as she spasmed, the small glimmers in the air sparking before fizzing out one-by-one. Suddenly, she became completely motionless.

It was then that Shino and Kiba realized their replacements had been destroyed.

Kiba spun just quick enough to witness the blur of a gray yukata tied with a lumpy purple obi barrel into Shino, but slowly enough that all he could grab was a sandaled foot.

Still, it was enough to yank the man off his partner before Shino was killed. Kiba proceeded to wrestle with man over his katana while Shino got to his feet, wobbling a little and pressing a hand over the wound near the left of his hip- no vital organs were damaged: he could still fight.

Sensing that he had control over his kikaichu again, he released them, allowing them to swarm the girl whose pendant he still clutched in his left hand. He raised a brow when he realized there was a massive amount of chakra channeling through it.

"Kiba," he warned, pulling out a kunai.

Kiba grunted, unable to spare Shino any more attention than that from his wrestling match.

"Get out of the way," was all the instruction Shino gave his teammate before stabbing the jade circle with the kunai.

He himself retreated from the explosion of chakra just barely in time; even so, the sleeves of his jacket were singed. Kiba would be happy; the dog-lover despised the bulky article.

Shino frowned and mentally berated himself for allowing his thoughts to become so unfocused. He looked around for Kiba. The dog-boy landed in the tree next to him, hair singed and fuming.

"Goddamnit, Shino, you gotta warn me before you pull shit like that!" he shouted. Shino shrugged.

"I did," he pointed out. Kiba growled ferociously.

"That doesn't count!" he ranted. Shino sighed and nodded in the direction of their attackers.

"Shiiiit!" Kiba howled, ducking just in time to dodge another round of senbon, "See Shino, this is exactly- fuck!!- what I'm talking about!"

"Kiba, we don't have time for this at the moment," Shino stated calmly, sending a wave of kikaichu at his own opponent. Kiba was about to retaliate but was suddenly being followed by a pack of senbon that weaved around trees as he dodged.

"Chakra wire!" Shino called out to his friend as he dodged an attack.

"Right!" Kiba exclaimed, letting out another howl as a senbon needle shot through his hand and wound around. In a matter of seconds he was wrapped in wire.

"Kiba!" Shino shouted as his partner tumbled to the forest floor. He ground his teeth as the katana sliced a deep gash in his arm- a reward for his inattention. As soon as he had the opportunity to, Shino abandoned the trees and landed beside Kiba, who was struggling fruitlessly with the wires. Shino frowned and began to cut them with a kunai.

"Behind you!" Kiba warned, rolling away. Shino stood, kunai clanging against the metal of a katana barely in time. The taller man grinned widely, enjoying the sound of screeching metal as he slid the blade of his sword down Shino's kunai. Shino's kikaichu squirmed within him as the man's maniacal face got steadily closer and closer.

"Shino; senbon!"

Shino ducked and a large number of senbon whizzed over his head. The silver-haired man howled in anger, ripping a senbon out of his arm. He waved it at the blonde.

"Watch it!" he seethed.

Shino took the opportunity to swipe the man, knocking him on his feet. The man was two steps ahead of him, however, and much more skilled in taijutsu: he thrust up with both feet, catching Shino in the stomach. Shino flew back, slamming into a tree. He slid to the ground, gasping for breath. The man approached, still grinning.

"Nice try," he gloated, raising the katana to attack.

"Thankyou," Shino replied calmly. The man's whole body began to tremble and he gave Shino an incredulous look. Shino explained; "When you were on the ground a spider bit you. It was just a small spider, so you would not feel the bite of it, but it is notable for having the most affective venom for paralyzing its prey."

From his position on the ground, Kiba gasped. "Shino! I didn't know you could use spiders, too!" he exclaimed. Shino shrugged, supporting himself with the tree as he stood shakily, already preparing for another senbon attack.

"Technically I can't, they're arachnids, not insects," Shino said, "But I have done a few favors, here and there." Kiba scoffed.

"Whatever."

Shino strode over and began to work with the wires binding Kiba once more. He frowned.

"Kiba, have these gotten tighter?" he asked. Kiba mewled and wriggled a little, testing. The shock registered on his face.

"Shit, Shino," he whispered, "I can barely breathe-"

Shino's frustration showed as he sawed away at the strings. Kiba began to grow pale, gasping like a fish out-of-water. Shino suddenly recognized the two syllables his friend was forming: sen and bon.

He whirled around just in time to deflect the senbon aimed for his vital organs with the kunai. Still, he grunted as a few made their marks in his calves. For whatever reason luck was with him that night and they were not poisoned with anything his destruction bugs couldn't handle on the go.

"You two make a pretty good team," the blonde commented.

Shino assumed a defensive stance, deciding to play it safe and assume the blonde had more than senbon in his arsenal. The blonde chuckled and produced a scroll, balancing it idly on one finger. Shino watched carefully, trying to decipher the few characters he could see.

"In case you were wondering, I'm a guy."

Then there was a loud bang accompanied by a plume of smoke. It cleared to reveal the blonde in an offensive stance, eight senbon in his hands, ready to fly. Shino gulped dryly, seeing the noxious poison oozing from them.

He was quite confident that was _not_ something his destruction bugs could handle.

The blonde took aim and unleashed the first of the deadly senbon at Shino. Shino dodged it easily, only to realize that had been a decoy: another senbon was flying at him, fast. Unable to alter his direction midair, he ordered a wall of kikaichu. He could feel the hum of disapproval within him at sacrificing such a large number.

They would just have to understand.

The blonde laughed at this while Shino's shoulder slammed into the ground painfully and he skid a few feet. He rolled to his feet, throwing out his arms to retaliate, realizing only too late he was making a perfect target of himself.

Dodging would have been a breeze if a strangled cry hadn't distracted him.

He gritted his teeth and ripped the needle out of his ankle, stealing a glance at Kiba. The dog-lover was in some serious trouble; he had managed to gnaw his way out of the wires, but was now caught in a swirling mass of black.

Shino quickly performed a replacement technique, leaving a kikaichu double in his place as he dashed over to Kiba, already sending out kikaichu.

He didn't have many kikaichu left, he realized despairingly. Where were the back-up units?

The kikaichu bashed into the swirling liquid, only to become ensnared in the sticky mass, useless to Shino's plight. He immediately called off whatever Kikaichu hadn't gotten trapped in the orb and searched for the source of the bubble. He spotted the black-haired girl staggering over. Her left arm was held out, a thin string of black ink connecting her to the sphere. She seethed, glaring darkly at Shino, causing a shiver to run down his spine.

This was their leader, not the tall one.

Another senbon lodged itself in the crook of his knee: the kikaichu double was dispersed.

Shino ripped it out and returned it in the direction of its sender. A faint laugh reached his ears, but he wasn't paying attention to that. Right now he needed to get Kiba out of the ink sphere. It reminded him vaguely of a water technique he had heard of, so he tried to alter details to fit this specific

Essentially, he concluded that the best method was to break the connection between sphere and girl.

He already had an exploding tag wrapped around the handle of a kunai before he realized that setting the ink on fire did minimal damage to the girl while it would most definitely burn Kiba; probably to the death. Cursing, he flung it over his shoulder in the general direction of the blonde, knowing he missed by the sound of laughter.

The girl staggered severely and Shino sent a small onslaught of kikaichu in the girl's direction with the order to break her connection with the ink ball.

Now he could turn his attention to the blonde, who still had four senbon. Shino steadied his kunai hand and prepared to dodge and deflect. The blonde grinned and twirled two senbon idly before throwing them at Shino with such speed the bug-nin could hardly register it. Still, Shino managed to deflect one and sidestep the other.

Precision wasn't worth much if you were aiming for the periphery of a body.

The poison must have been very strong.

Shino's mind didn't dwell on this long- couldn't dwell on it long. His kikaichu fulfilled their mission, returning up his sleeves and into the skin just before the swirling mass of ink exploded, knocking both Shino and the blonde over with its force.

Not forgetting Kiba, Shino forced himself to stand as soon as the final wave of ink washed over him. He stumbled to his partner and checked for a pulse. Hardly. He held two fingers under the boy's nose, No breath. Frowning, Shino shook Kiba a few times. No response. He pumped the dog-lover's chest in an attempt to stimulate heartbeat and breath. Ineffective.

Nothing.

With no other choice left to him, Shino leaned over and gave Kiba CPR.

Kiba gasped, gurgled, then rolled over and hacked up large amounts of ink.

Shino felt his eyelids becoming droopy and only then realized there was no feeling in either leg, part of his waist, and that his arm was beginning to hurt tremendously, as was his lower left waist. The numbness spread and he realized that there were not enough destruction bugs in his system to deal with such copious amounts of lethal poison.

He would have to collect more, he thought just as his world became fuzzy and he passed out on Kiba, who gave a yelp of pain and went still as well.

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**Owaa, so how was that?!**


	3. Chapter 3: Hurts

**Chapter Summary:** Waking up alone after letting your best friend down is the worst thing in this godforsaken world.

**Chapter Rating:** T for some language

**Chapter Pairing(s):** none

**Author's Notes:** I promise, Shino x Kiba is coming soon! I'm building up to it... just bear with Kiba x Shikamaru until I get there (I'm actually not that big a fan of Kiba x Shikamaru, but it works for this story).

Either way... did Shino and Kiba live or die!?!? From the summary, we know at least _one_ of them lived, but... oh the suspense! (Just kidding- haha. Oi, you're supposed to laugh!)

Incase anyone noticed I made a huge discrepancy in the third chapter of _Little Things: Relationships_ where I made Shikamaru get all pissy about Kiba giving Shino a blow job but never giving him one... I didn't realize until after it was posted that in the very first chapter of this story Kiba is giving Shikamaru a rather good blow job, so... eck! I'm such a failure, ha!

**Disclaimer: **-imagines Naruto if I owned it- yup...

* * *

_**Always Knock First**_

_Before you enter my life -- before you enter my heart._

* * *

3: Failure

The first thing he became aware of was the painful labor of dragging in each breath. Every time he inhaled his trachea and lungs felt like raging fire. When he exhaled, like a tornado of needles tearing him apart. No matter how deeply he breathed, it felt as though nothing filled his lungs and no matter how lightly he breathed the pain was just as excruciating.

Kiba felt defeated.

The room smelled disgustingly sterile and rotten, conjuring images of white paint peeling away from damp, decomposing walls- a hospital, he realized, groaning again and shifting. He sniffed more, searching for something familiar, for anything but the sanitized smell of hospital clinging around the putrid stench of old, decaying death. Slowly he opened his eyes to the dim room. The only light entered through the partially opened window came from the waning moon. Kiba looked around him. No-one.

_Oh god, oh god oh god oh god,_ he thought, shivering in the relative warmth, _Where's Shino? Where is he!_

Kiba refused to allow himself to think that his best friend was dead, refused to acknowledge the possibility that his friend was even there, in the hospital with him. He solaced himself with the idea that Shino was probably still on the battlefield, kicking Orochimaru lackey-butt while laughing to himself about how much of an idiot Kiba was.

Kiba began to form new training ideas, trying to think of new jutsu he and Akamaru could use.

_...he passed out on Kiba, who gave a yelp of pain and went still as well._

Kiba mewled, holding his head and shaking, breath flaring in his breathing passages as needles and flames. No, it wasn't Shino. The silent, ever tactical Aburame Shino would not pass out during battle. Shino always thought of something. Shino always had more bugs and more chakra and kept his wits about him. Shino never...

It was a replacement, Kiba convinced himself, breath slowly steadying. Shino had used a replacement- probably a log- and that was what had fallen on Kiba. Of course. Shino was always two steps ahead; he would have thought of that. Yes, it was a replacement.

Kiba lifted his head and started out the window sullenly, feeling alone and small and useless. What good had he been for Shino? First he let himself get caught in a stupid genjutsu and left Shino to fight on his own. Then he'd argued with Shino instead of working together and ended up wrapped in chakra wire, unable to help his partner. Not only that, but _then_ he'd gotten himself trapped in a giant ball of floating ink and nearly suffocated and- oh god, what was that sound?

It had to have been the most pitiful shout of pain and death and Kiba had ever heard and it came from outside of Konoha, traveling over the whole village before it reached the hospital, filling Kiba's sensitive ears. He covered them and bit back the tears. No, it wasn't Shino, it wasn't Shino. Shino couldn't die, wouldn't die. Shino didn't pass out, didn't die, didn't shout with agony and conviction-

But what if he did?

No! He didn't. Kiba's searing breaths became ragged with the effort of holding back the tears and wracking sobs that threatened to spill out. _Goddamnit, where was Shino!?_

God fuck it all- what if Shino was hurt? What if, just what _if_, Shino was _dead_? What then? What could Kiba do then, breath ragged, chest raging with pain, and extremities bound in bandages from chakra burns and senbon penetrations? What good was he to Shino on that battlefield?

He was always the inattentive one, always the one rushing headfirst into things too soon without thinking it through and getting caught in stupid traps like genjutsu and chakra wire- goddamnit, he was almost as bad as Naruto, but without the luck!

_With no other choice left to him, Shino leaned over and gave Kiba CPR._

"Che," Kiba whined, curling his knees to his chest, no matter how much it hurt to do so, and rocking himself. Shino's injuries had been much more severe than Kiba's were, and yet the Aburame had still managed to save Kiba once again.

Why was he always being saved, like a girl? If he counted, the Inuzuka realized that he had been rescued, saved, and revived from near-death more times than Hinata. Where did that put him?

And just how many times had he ever saved one of his teammates from the brink of death? That time when he caught Hinata before she fell off a cliff- that was once. What else? Kiba couldn't think of anything, and cried. He was alone.

And he was such a failure.

* * *

**ohm'god, angsty-feel-sorry-for-me-fic!! I kinda like it though, because it's _so_ cliché for the person to wake up in the hospital forever later and their friend/lover/whoever is there, having not slept, eaten, or anything since they were injured, and all red-eyed from crying and stuff. That's all just unrealistic junk, I tell you, junk!**

**Sorry it was so short!!**


	4. Chapter 4: Worse

**Chapter Summary:** It hurt- only a little bit, of course- that Kiba greeted Shino with more enthusiasm than him.

**Chapter Pairing(s):** Kiba x Shikamaru

**Chapter Rating:** K+ but maybe T for very mild language...

**Author's Notes:** This is getting way longer than I originally planned... gosh dangit, it was supposed to be a one-shot! Geez... I'm such a loser.

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Naruto Temari would jump off a cliff and die before ever approaching Shikamaru again- I despise that pairing with a passion. But opinions are opinions and I don't own Naruto.

* * *

_**Always Knock First**_

_Before you enter my life -- before you enter my heart._

* * *

4: Silence

Shikamaru was highly surprised to see Kurenai standing in his window, hands on her hips. He gave a shout as he dodged two kunai, rolling out of bed in a tangled mass of sheets and limbs.

"What the hell, Kurenai-sensei!" he exclaimed, "That's _not_ the way to wake a guy up!"

Kurenai smiled serenely and shrugged, twirling another kunai carelessly. Shikamaru eyed it suspiciously, tensed for another round of un-welcomed morning wake-up-calls. "I thought you should know Kiba is awake and expected to make a full recovery."

The lazy nin's eyes widened, suddenly fully awake and awfully confused. "What?"

"Kiba and Shino were ambushed last night by three of Orochimaru's shinobi- all A- or S-ranked- and passed out just moments before the back-up unit arrived. They were very lucky in terms of timing," she explained as Shikamaru leapt to his feet and stumbled about his room, throwing clothes on (he was, again, only clad in his nightshirt) and muttering darkly to himself.

"Mendokusee," troublesome, he complained, pushing past Kurenai and exiting through his window. Kurenai watched his retreating back amusedly. Kiba was lucky to have Shikamaru (though she'd never tell the boy she knew they were together- Kiba would be mortified).

_**- - -**_

Shikamaru entered Kiba's room quietly, embarrassedly hiding the bouquet of get-well flowers behind his back- Ino had insisted he buy a bouquet instead of just one flower for his friend. Arguing with women being troublesome and Ino offering him a discount he'd accepted and escaped from the store before anything else could be forced at him.

"Here," he said, shoving them at Kiba. Kiba blinked at the colorful bunch, shocked for a minute.

"Che," he chuckled, grinning and shaking his head. Shikamaru frowned at the relatively low-key reaction as Kiba placed the flowers on the table by his bed and returned to staring out the window at the sun hovering just over the horizon.

"Kurenai-sensei told me," Shikamaru said finally to break the awkward silence. Usually he liked silence, but not with Kiba. With Kiba, as a rule, it always had to be loud and raucous, there always had to be talking and laughing. With Kiba he wasn't allowed to stand inside his comfort zone of silence and lazy cloud-gazing for long. Kiba grunted, nodding.

"I figured," he ground out, realizing Shikamaru was unnerved by his silence. After a pause, he added uncomfortably, unable to help himself, "Did she tell you how Shino is?"

Shikamaru shifted apprehensively. "No," he admitted. Kiba sighed.

"I failed him," Kiba remarked, face turned away from Shikamaru. "All I did was stupid stuff. All I did was get in the way. I barely even fought! In the end I wasn't any help and I had to be saved again. I counted, Shikamaru, and that makes twenty-seven times. Twenty-seven! Can you imagine that? I've nearly gotten myself killed that many times and he's had to save my sorry ass _that_ many times. What good am I to him?"

"Kiba..." Shikamaru murmured, but Kiba shrugged it off.

"Whatever," he muttered, glaring sullenly out the window. "I woke up alone," he commented offhandedly. Shikamaru sighed.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "I didn't know-"

"I know," Kiba said, finally turning his face to Shikamaru, wearing one of his brilliant grins, "It's all right."

"Are you sure?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah," Kiba nodded, "It's no big deal."

But Shikamaru could see the red rims of his eyes. He glanced down to the bandages then back up to Kiba's grin and decided to let it go. If Kiba wanted it to be okay, then it would have to be okay. "What happened?"

Kiba's grin faded slightly; became somewhat thoughtful. "We attempted to ambush three of Orochimaru's ninja but they were really really strong- like seriously! There was one girl who could trap you in a genjutsu-type thing and make you feel all drunk and happy- I got caught in that. Another person with blonde hair that was definitely confused about their gender used poisoned senbon- that's what got Shino, I think- and was super-flexible, it could bend its arms like this-" Kiba attempted to show Shikamaru, "-only more. And the final guy was really tall and fast and used a katana. Shino fought really well, but I ended up getting my ass whooped. I'm going to have to train more."

"It's more of a matter of not thinking things through than not being strong enough," Shikamaru muttered. Kiba chuckled.

"Yeah, whatever... Oi, where's Akamaru?" he said suddenly, looking around as if he hadn't noticed before. Shikamaru frowned- usually that would have been the first thing Kiba noticed.

"He's fine. I have him."

They both turned to the source of the voice; the shock that registered on Kiba's face was obvious as he stared up at Aburame Shino- head bandaged and leaning awkwardly on the foot of a bed, but seemingly fine other than that- holding Akamaru. Akamaru barked happily, leaped out of Shino's arms and bounded over to Kiba. Kiba held the pup off as the ninken attempted to lick his face, still staring at Shino, gaping. Shino frowned. Slowly Kiba came to his senses.

"Shino!" he exclaimed, literally leaping out of bed and jumping at the boy; all traces of calm and composure and general well-being lost He sobbed into his chest, clinging to the Aburame's jacket desperately. "I'm so sorry! I'm a failure, I let you down, I can't believe I'm so useless, I promise I'll train more and work harder! I won't let you down again, I won't have to be saved again! I'll protect _you_ next time, I promise!!"

"Kiba," Shino said, staring ahead, unmoved. "You should be in bed. You have severe damage to your breathing passages from the ink you inhaled."

"No way! I'm fine. Shino, we need to start training right now, right Akamaru?" Akamaru whined, curling his tail between his legs. Kiba growled at his ninken, "_Right_, Akamaru?"

"Kiba..." Shino warned.

"No, I'm fine!" Kiba declared before swaying and doubling over, gasping in the pain of breathing as his airways constricted. Shikamaru jumped forward to catch Kiba, but Shino caught him first. The shadow-nin watched wearily as Shino carried his boyfriend back to the hospital bed and tucked him in carefully. Akamaru whined and Shikamaru picked him up, taking comfort with Kiba's ninken.

Kiba opened up to Shino, gave raw emotion to Shino. Kiba hugged Shino, clung to Shino. Kiba needed Shino more than him right now.

He looked at Kiba's shaking form forlornly, feeling down. He hoped it was only temporary; hoped that Shino would not be more important than him to Kiba for long. He didn't think he could handle it. Yes, the two were teammates, but they were far closer than him and Kiba, which bothered the lazy-nin greatly.

"I will only tell you this once more, Kiba. Do not get up again," Shino instructed the Inuzuka, who snorted indignantly, looking away. Shino turned to Shikamaru, "I trust you will watch over him."

Then he limped away and Shikamaru was left alone with Akamaru, a fuming Kiba, and the feeling of dread coiling tightly in his stomach.

Kiba continued to glare sullenly out the window, unwilling to talk to Shikamaru, his tears falling unchecked. It was a silence Shikamaru could not make himself appreciate. There were too many undercurrents, too many questions hanging in the air. There was too much hurt and too much feeling. But he couldn't abandon Kiba, so he stayed and sat through the quiet.

* * *

**The Kiba x Shino begins (kinda) yay!**


	5. Chapter 5: than

**Chapter Summary:** His friends only meant well, but they were really the last thing he wanted at the moment.

**Chapter Pairing(s):** Kiba x Shikamaru, Chouji x Ino, Asuma x Kurenai, and Lee x Sakura (mostly implied or mentioned rather than shown).

**Chapter Rating:** K+ for mild violence (c'mon, Sakura's in the same room as Lee and Naruto... someone's going to get hurt).

**Author's Notes:** I should really be sleeping right now...

**Disclaimer:** -snore- huh, what? Oh, right, I don't Naruto.

* * *

**Always Knock First**

_Before you enter my life -- before you enter my heart._

* * *

5: Caring

Kiba's face was dry by the time a soft knock was heard at the door. Neither boy answered it, but Shikamaru did look. Chouji's rusty-colored hair was visible through the window as the Akimichi surveyed the room. The door opened and a visibly relieved Chouji entered, followed by Ino. Shikamaru knew the look- Chouji was very relieved that he hadn't come in during the middle of some transgression (specifically: sexual) between Kiba and Shikamaru. Shikamaru was grateful for that, too; such a situation would have been awkward.

"Ino told me," he explained, taking the only other empty stool by the hospital bed. Ino added their flowers to Shikamaru's on the nightstand and stood a distance away, somewhat not belonging to this group. Kiba shrugged.

"I figured," he mumbled. Chouji and Shikamaru exchanged looks and Chouji frowned.

"So... how long are you going to be in the hospital?" Chouji inquired, trying to keep a steady stream of conversation flowing. Like Shikamaru, he found Kiba's reticent demeanor unnerving. Kiba sighed and shrugged, still staring forlornly out the window.

"Dunno," he muttered after a moment when no-one said anything. Chouji nodded even though Kiba couldn't see it.

"Oh," he said, "That's too bad."

"Tell me about it," Kiba agreed. Chouji shifted uncomfortably, unsure what to say next.

"Akamaru looks really good, though," he commented. Kiba nodded.

"Yeah," he agreed, "T's about the only good thing that came outta it."

"You helped protect the village," Chouji pointed out, "That's pretty good." Kiba scoffed.

"Yeah. Right," he muttered, shrugging. Helped by doing what? Burdening Shino and getting the tar beaten out of himself... Kiba failed to see how that helped saving the village, but he didn't feel like arguing, so he kept his mouth shut. Chouji hadn't been there so how could he be expected to know?

Chouji frowned, but was saved from another awkward silence by a very green shinobi bursting through the door.

"I heard of your terrible misfortune and came immediately, Kiba-kun!" Lee exclaimed, rushing over to the Inuzuka's side and clasping his hands, a glint in his eye, "You fought valiantly, Kiba-kun, but your adversaries were strong! You did well, Kiba-kun, it was not shameful to be defeated!"

Kiba's eyebrow ticked and he gritted his teeth. Lee was the absolute last person he wanted to see at the moment.

"Lee!!" a pink-haired nurse screeched, storming the room. She grabbed the boy by the ear and dragged him short distance away from Kiba's bed, "What did I tell you about being so noisy in the hospital!?"

"Che, you're being louder than him, Sakura," Shikamaru complained. Chouji chuckled in agreement. Sakura glared at them both.

"I know that!" she shot back and both boys shrank away from her rage. She turned back to Lee and continued to lecture him about the welfare of their patients and so-on and so-forth. To his credit, Lee tuned her out for the most part and goggled at her with affection-filled eyes. Eventually Sakura got tired of yelling at him and let go of his ear, decidedly ignoring the look he was giving her, though a slight blush did grace her cheeks.

"So... uh...are you going to be Kiba's nurse?" Chouji asked.

"Yup!" Sakura said brightly, a product of her many mood-swings. She crossed to the other side of the bed, blocking Kiba's view out the window, and began a series of check-ups.

"How's your training going?" Chouji asked. Ino hmph'ed and glared at the door.

"Great, but terrible," Sakura admitted, shaking her head as she checked Kiba's pupils.

"What do you mean?" Lee asked. Sakura shrugged, scribbling something on a clipboard.

"Well, I'm learning a lot with Tsunade-sama, but it's really stressful," she explained, taking Kiba's blood pressure, "Healing takes a great deal of chakra control and she always has me practicing my chakra control reviving nearly-dead fish- which is gross- and when I'm not doing that I'm either here volunteering or doing regular training with her. She's a monster when it comes to battle-field training!"

Most of the room's occupants laughed appreciatively, imagining what their Hokage's brutal training must have been like. Sakura smiled and jotted down a few last notes.

"Well, it seems like you're going to make a full recovery, Kiba-kun!" she announced, "Your airways are healing nicely and that was about the only serious injury you had so you'll probably be out of here in four days."

"And then I can start training again?" he asked. Sakura frowned, but nodded.

"But nothing too taxing for at least two weeks, okay?" she said. Kiba grunted, but gave a slight inclination of his head. Sakura sighed and backed away from the cot, falling into conversation with Ino.

"Oi! I heard so 'bout the attempted ambush and thought I'd drop by," Naruto said, bursting through the door. Shikamaru groaned and Akamaru jumped out of his lap when he put his face in his hands. Naruto bounded to Kiba's bedside, fairly knocking Chouji out of the way, and began prodding Kiba. "Ne, ne, you look like you're fine! What's all this about you possibly not being able to continue being a shinobi?"

"What?" Kiba asked, shocked into finally turning away from the window. Naruto straightened, folded his arms, and nodded.

"Yeah, I heard-"

"Naruto--!" Sakura fumed, appearing behind him.

"N-na, Sakura-chan, " Naruto squeaked, cowering before the medic-nin. She stared daggers at him and he backed away from the bed. "I-I just came here to see K-Kiba!" Naruto defended himself. Sakura raised a fist and he fairly jumped out of his skin, "M-matte_(1)_, Sakura-chan!"

"Baka!" she exclaimed, thumping him as hard as she could over the head, "Don't say unnecessary, untrue things like that to my patients!"

"I-itai..._(2)_" Naruto whimpered, a large lump forming on his head. Sakura seethed, but seemed to calm down a little, but that didn't help Naruto relax or ease the throbbing of his head. "I'm sorry, I didn't know!"

"What do you mean?" Kiba repeated, a furious glint in his eyes, "That I couldn't be a shinobi again?"

The room took on a somber mood and Sakura stared at her feet.

"W-well, we weren't sure if your breathing passages would heal properly," she explained, fidgeting nervously, "If they healed incorrectly- or not at all- then physical activity would have caused you to be unable to breath and you can't be a shinobi if running causes you to be unable to breathe and pass out..."

Kiba looked away, appearing indifferent, "Oh."

"B-but your airways are healing perfectly," Sakura added in an attempted cheerful tone, "So no worries!"

"Yeah," Kiba mumbled, un-admittedly a little unnerved that his career had almost come to such an unwitting end. Knowing he had almost ruined himself with such recklessness made the guilt in his stomach even more disconcerting and nauseating.

"Sakura," he said suddenly, "I think I'm going to puke..."

"Ah, no, ch-chotto matte_(3)_!" she panicked, retrieving a bucket from the far corner of the room by the counter, but she was too late; Kiba's stomach emptied itself over the side of the bed.

"Uh, gross," he snarled, spitting. Vomiting was even worse when your sense of smell and taste was ten times what normal people's.

"Oh, Kiba-kun, I'm so sorry!" Sakura apologized, snatching a rag from the counter. To Lee she instructed: "Get a mop."

"There wasn't any warning," Kiba forgave her, shrugging. She tried to wipe off his mouth but he grabbed the rag from her and cleaned up himself, a little embarrassed about letting her do it (embarrassed that it happened at all). He refused to meet Shikamaru's eyes, or anyone's eyes, for that matter.

"Look who I found!" Lee exclaimed, returning with a mop. Kurenai and Asuma followed, looking a little apprehensive. Sakura took the mop from Lee and began cleaning up the mess (Akamaru sighed gratefully- it smelled horrible, even to those who didn't have a super strong sense of smell). Kurenai wrinkled her nose, trying not to be overly rude about the smell. Asuma decidedly ignored it, but he did take measures to breathe lightly.

"Hi, Kiba-kun," Kurenai whispered. Chouji got up and she thanked him before taking the seat and scooting closer to the head of the bed. Kiba turned away from her and glared at a flock of birds out the window- black, he realized: ANBU operatives. Kurenai frowned and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at her. "Hey, don't look away from me."

"That hurts!" he whined, but Kurenai laughed, knowing it didn't and that Kiba just didn't like the contact. He growled, but settled down and glared.

"I was really worried about you, so don't give me that," she instructed him.

"What do you want?" he spat. Kurenai fixed him with a look that clearly said don't try me today.

"I wanted to check up on you," she said, "But if you have the energy and breath to argue with me then I don't know why I wasted my time. I'm sure you'll be fine, now. You should be glad, actually; they forced Shino to go to the briefing but not you. I know how much you hate the briefings with the Hokage."

Kiba scoffed. "Yeah, I guess."

Kurenai smiled, "Definitely. It was long and boring."

"But you're going to have to go through an interrogation with ANBU," Asuma added, a toothpick waggling from his mouth (cigarettes weren't allowed in the hospital), "So will Shino."

"Whatever," Kiba muttered.

"Wow," Chouji said appreciatively, "Those must have been some serious shinobi you fought, Kiba!"

"Orochimaru's lackeys," Kurenai supplied. Sakura and Naruto seemed to tense, suddenly really listening.

"Did they mention...?" Sakura whispered. Kiba sighed and shook his head. She gave a soft 'oh' and returned to her mopping with a new fervor. Naruto scowled to himself, but otherwise no-one was overly bothered by it.

"Either way," Asuma announced, wrapping his arms around Kurenai from behind and resting his chin on her shoulder, "you should have seen Kurenai's expression when Akamaru came bounding back to Konoha without you!" Kurenai's eyebrow ticked.

"As I said, I was worried," she insisted. Asuma laughed.

"Worried hardly covers it. She went absolutely hysteric!"

"Asuma-kun," Kurenai warned as Chouji, Ino, Lee, and Naruto laughed at the idea of a hysteric Kurenai. Even Kiba couldn't suppress a chuckle.

"K-Kiba-kun?" a soft voice asked, just barely audible over the laughter. The din died down and everyone turned to peer at Hinata. She blushed and smiled, presenting Kiba with a white flower. She hesitated to put it on the nightstand and Kiba took it from her, twirling it between his thumb and index finger. Hinata sighed. "How are you?"

"Fine," he grunted and felt a little guilty at the face Hinata made upon receiving such a gruff answer. He sighed; it was great that his friends cared so much, he was sure, but he really didn't feel like putting up with a million 'how-are-you's. Sakura finally finished mopping and wiped her brow, smiling and letting out a whoosh of air. Akamaru yipped happily, squeezing back into Shikamaru's lap, forcing the shadow-nin to remove his chin from his hand to make room for the pup. Kiba watched from the corner of his eye as Shikamaru gave the dog a sad look before sighing and petting him. Kiba focused on outside the window; the birds had dispersed and not one was to be found.

"I-I'm glad," Hinata told him as Kurenai wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close (Asuma removed his head from his wife's shoulder and ruffled Hinata's hair). Kiba nodded absently.

"Don't forget, visiting hours end at six," Sakura reminded them before forcibly dragging Lee out of the room with her.

"I have to get back to work," Ino excused herself, following, "See ya, Kiba-kun."

"Nn," Kiba answered. Naruto hesitated for a moment then silently followed as well, too immersed in his own thoughts to give a loud, rambunctious goodbye. Now it was only Kiba, Asuma, Kurenai, Chouji, Shikamaru, and Akamaru left. They stayed until another nurse returned to kick them out.

It felt like forever.

* * *

(1) matte means wait, but like with all translations, I might be wrong so don't hesitate to correct!

(2) itai is the Japanese equivalent of our "ow" (in China they say "aiyaaa!" or "tong!" trust me, I've been there. It's pretty funny... I actually picked up the habit myself for a while.)

(3) chotto matte is a little different than just matte. It means just a moment, wait a moment, stuff like that, etc.

**Well, no action in this chapter, really. Sorry! There _will_ be action next chappie (Shino x Kiba) I promise... just hang in there, okay!**


	6. Chapter 6: Anything

**Chapter Summary:** Failure was no good on the battle field, but it sure as hell was damned good at following Kiba around and bugging the shit out of him.

**Chapter Pairing(s):** super vague, only-there-if-you-wish-it-were-there Kiba x Shino... but really, there aren't any pairings this chapter.

**Chapter Rating:** T for Kiba's lovely language.

**Author's Notes: **I'm sorry this took me so long to get up! You see... I had this fantastic idea for this chapter which hit me like a brick wall when I was cleaning one weekend and I was like... 'holy crap, that's amazing!' and... I didn't write it down because, well, it was so amazing I just _knew_ I wouldn't forget it.

Three days later (or round-about then) I sat down to write it and was like... 'omg, I can't remember, nuuu!' Yeah, melodramatics and all because, well, I was angry as heck with myself for forgetting. All I could remember that it had something to do with a dream Kiba was going to have and ANBU... grawr.

So, I spent about a week (maybe two, I'm bad with time) moping around because I couldn't remember, banging my head into the keyboard trying to remember, and shredding papers because... I don't remember why. Eh, that's odd.

Anyways, eventually I gave up and had the smart idea to _write down_ the general outline of the plot so I wouldn't have that problem again. As it stands... I may have to compress some of the chapters to make it all fit, so chapters one and two and chapters three, four, and five may be smooshed together into two chapters instead of five because the end of the story began feeling a little rushed to me. But maybe it's just me. We'll see how I feel as this progresses.

Either way, I did manage to use the dream and ANBU for this chapter, but it's not as awesome as I think the first idea was (I really don't remember so I really don't know if it was or if I was just delusional from the bleach fumes).

Lotsa love and my apologies for the wait, let's go!

**Disclaimer: **I wonder why I bother with this... everyone knows I don't own it.

* * *

**Always Knock First**

_Before you enter my life -- before you enter my heart._

* * *

6: Fearing

"Awe man, you gotta be kidding me," Kiba whined to his friends, yawning and stretching, "I mean, I know none of us made chuunin, but don't you think we're better than a dumb d-rank mission? This is so lame!"

"B-but Hokage-sama g-gave it to us, Kiba-kun," Hinata shyly answered, "Below us or not, we are expected to complete it."

"Those are the rules," Shino agreed.

Kiba scowled. "Like I don't fucking know that already, geez."

Hinata looked to Shino, who shrugged. _Leave him be_, he seemed to say, _Kiba is Kiba. He will do his thing, but in the end he will do what is right_. She giggled and beamed at the glare Kiba directed at Shino. Even with his back to him, the dog-lover picked up on Shino's silent speech.

"A-ano... I heard from Naruto-kun that there is some danger to this mission," she said, blushing lightly at the thought of receiving the same mission as her crush, even if it was years later. Kiba laughed.

"As if. That's probably just Naruto trying to glorify himself," he answered. Hinata blushed and looked down. "Besides, it's just a little farming. I mean, how dangerous can that be? Seriously. They're totally underestimating us!"

"Kiba," Shino said, "promise me you will work hard, regardless of your opinion of the mission." Kiba gave his teammate a sidelong glance.

"You're always right, Shino," he said with one of his feral, unreadable grins that left Shino wondering if the boy was committing to the promise or saying he would do whatever he felt like doing.

The latter was more likely.

Kiba skipped the rest of the way to the rice paddies, yammering about trivial things.

"Damnit, this sucks!" he groaned, "Why'd we have 'ta do this in the afternoon? It's freaking hot! I feel like I'm roasting out here." He yanked off his thick jacket, tossing it onto a dry bank.

Evidently, his tirade wasn't finished yet.

"My back is stiff and sore and my hitai-ate is all itchy and sweaty. My hands are all mucky and prune-y and I don't even want to know what my feet look like because they feel like shit and-"

"You're complaining about mucky hands and feet? Kiba, I thought you enjoyed playing in the mud," Shino commented wryly from an adjacent field, still wearing his heavy jacket but also having donned a wide-brimmed straw hat he'd brought along. Kiba touched the scalding metal of his hitai-ate and scowled, wishing he had thought to bring a hat.

"Yeah, I am, and yes, I do," he shot back, "Gotta problem?"

Shino considered this; "No."

"Good," Kiba snarled, stooping and sticking a few more rice stalks into the muddy water. After a while, he began absently complaining again, jamming the plants into the soil roughly.

"Kiba, you're going to damage the seedlings," Shino finally spoke, standing and wiping his brow. Kiba glanced up at his friend. Carrying a dripping, woven basket of plants, wearing a straw hat, with his pant legs and sleeves rolled up, Shino looked awfully farm-boyish. To Kiba this was amusing and he grinned. Shino frowned.

"Do I look like I care?" Kiba asked, jamming another stalk into the water. It didn't even take hold and floated away limply. Shino's eyes followed it.

"K-Kiba-kun," Hinata gasped. Kiba glanced at her and the grin slipped off his face.

"Right, right," he sighed, snatching up the plant and gently burying the roots in the mud. Something skittered by his hand and he followed it.

"Hey hey, Shino! It's a bug," he exclaimed, "C'mere, I wanna know what kind it is!"

There was splashing, but no Shino. Kiba scowled.

"Shino, get over here! I wanna learn something. You said you'd always teach me if I wanted to know something, 'specially if it was about bugs!" No answer. "Shino?"

He looked up, looked around. Huh?

"Sh-Shino? Hinata? Where'd you guys go?" he said, bewildered. There was a soft plop as Shino's hat landed on the water. But again, no Shino. "H-hey guys, that's not funny..."

But no-one jumped at him, laughing and telling him he was such an oblivious idiot.

"Alright, alright," he forced a laugh, "I get it. Joke's on me, I'll get back to work... seriously, I will. C'mon, stop playin' around, you guys..."

But Shino didn't play around and Hinata wasn't big on pranks. That was Kiba's thing.

So where were they?

"Guys, guys? C'mon, please!" Kiba shouted, scrambling out of his paddy. He looked around again, then jumped into the paddy Shino had been in, unconsciously using his chakra to float above the water as he peered into the cloudy mess, trying to find Shino. "Shino?"

His foot nudged the wide-brimmed hat and Kiba stared at it. Apprehensively, he leaned over and, grasping both sides firmly, picked it up.

There, beneath the water, was Shino. Kiba stared in horror as his friend struggled in the depths, opening his mouth to say something, but only bubbles came out. Then Shino wasn't moving anymore, wasn't trying to swim.

"Shino!" Kiba roared, diving into the water. The dirt stung his eyes and the water was cold, much colder than it should have been after sitting under the sun all day. But then, it was also much deeper than any rice paddy ever was. Kiba's lungs burned as he toiled through the murk.

Finally, he reached Shino and latched onto the teen with both arms, using his legs to propel them to the surface. He gasped for air upon breaking the surface, but Shino didn't. Shino was still, cold, lifeless. Kiba swam for the bank.

"Shino, Shino!" he cried, laying his friend out on the sparse grass, "Shino!"

Kiba was scared. No, not scared; Kiba was terrified. He had no idea how to save Shino and no time to wonder about it. All he knew was that Shino needed oxygen, and Shino needed it _that very moment_.

Goddamnit, why couldn't he remember that thing people did to save people who drowned? See-pee something... screw the name. Kiba knew it had something to do with forcing oxygen back into the lungs, but how did one go about that? Well, when he needed lots of air, Kiba knew he breathed through his mouth, so...

He clumsily leaned over and placed his mouth over Shino's, blowing, but Shino's lips were tightly shut. The exertion made his chest sting.

"Damnit, idiot," Kiba muttered, sitting up and wiping his mouth. He forced Shino's jaw open, took a deeper breath, and tried again, with no result. His lungs and throat burned and fat tears began to fill his eyes.

"Wake up!" he shouted desperately, shaking Shino. "I don't know how to do that see-pee-something or whatever, so just fucking wake up for me, already! It's not a funny joke, it's not a funny joke... I said it's not funny! Wake up!"

_**- - -**_

Kiba woke up coughing, and he hurt like hell all over. A cool hand was placed on his shoulder. He looked up at Shino whose brow was creased in a deep frown. Kiba covered his mouth as he coughed again.

"What're you doing here?" he asked bitterly, blinking away the wetness in his eyes.

"I..." Shino paused and Kiba bemusedly wondered if he would forget to finish the thought, as Shino sometimes did. "... was told you were being discharged today."

"Really?" Kiba asked, swallowing a cough, "That's fantastic!"

Shino's eyebrows drew down further, if that was even possible. Sometimes Kiba worried they would stay that way one day and Shino would perpetually look angry. "But I think I will speak to Haruno-san about keeping you here another week. I do not believe you are completely well."

Kiba grabbed Shino's sleeve as the older boy turned to leave. "Wait, Shino, don't!" he pleaded, "Really, I'm fine."

Shino turned to him and Kiba presented his best kicked-puppy look. Shino resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "We'll see."

Kiba brightened. "Okay! Thanks, Shino."

Shino studied him. "... our meeting with ANBU is scheduled today."

"Really? When?" Kiba pushed himself up to a sitting position, batting Shino's hands away when the Aburame attempted to aid him. Shino stood back with an indignant hmph, but Kiba only grinned expectantly.

"In a few minutes," Shino supplied.

"What? Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" Kiba yelped, reaching back to try and undo the strings of his hospital gown, "I can't go in this!"

Shino watched as Kiba struggled with the outfit, amused, until the boy began coughing again. Sighing, he reached out and began fumbling with the knots. Kiba turned to present Shino with his back, his shoulders shaking from holding down the coughing.

"Are you sure you are all right?" Shino asked again. Kiba let out a raking laugh that wound up in a cough.

"Never been better, bucko," he said sarcastically. Shino frowned but did not answer, as the last tie came undone. Kiba sighed and slipped the garment off.

"Here," Shino handed Kiba his usual attire, keeping his eyes focused on a wall as Kiba changed.

"Alright, I'm ready now," Kiba announced, zipping up his hooded jacket. Shino gave a curt nod and led the way. It was then Kiba noticed Shino was using a crutch. _Was it the poison?_ he wondered. Just how much damage had Shino received in that battle? Even worse, Kiba wondered how much of the damage was _his_ fault.

"I have brought Kiba," Shino announced to a masked guard. Kiba peered at the ANBU member curiously as they were shown into a circular room with no windows and two chairs, back-to-back. Kiba was seated in one and Shino in the other. There were four ANBU there.

The one with a mask that reminded Kiba of a bird leaned over, forming a seal. He began to murmur things to Kiba and the room began to swirl. Questions danced across his ears and answers tumbled out of his mouth, but for some reason Kiba couldn't retain anything that transpired between him and the bird-mask.

And then he was reliving it. He was reliving the battle again, and when it was all over the memory rewound itself to all his least favorite parts and looped them. Kiba was caught in the genjutsu again, Kiba was wrapped in chakra wire, Kiba was engulfed by thick swirling blackness that he now knew was ink, Kiba was a failure again, Kiba was a let-down. Kiba was useless to Shino again, Kiba passed out before the fight was over, again.

Scared and feeling small, Kiba's hands shook and he fumbled around for Shino's hand. He found it and held on tightly. Shino's hand was cool and dry against his own clammy palm, but Shino's hand gave his a comforting squeeze.

_It will be all right_, it said, _this will be over soon. Just hold on a little longer, Kiba_.

Kiba sighed quietly and tried to focus on something other than the memories flashing through his head, something other than his horrid nightmare where Shino died because he couldn't save him in time. Instead he focused on the bird mask floating in front of him, or the way the room swirled and twisted dizzily about him, or how calm Shino's hand felt around his.

And then, it was over.

_**- - -**_

"Kiba. Are you ready to go?"

"Huh?" Kiba blinked and looked at Shino, "Oh. Yeah, I'm ready."

Shino nodded and began walking. Kiba had the nagging urge to look over his shoulder, began to, then decided it was silly and chased after Shino.

Hinata was waiting for them in the lobby. She stood when they entered.

"K-Kiba-kun, Shino-kun," she said, "You're alright?"

Kiba grinned. "Course we're alright, you silly-head. Shino here's indestructible." He patted his friend's shoulder, who tucked his chin behind his collar. Hinata giggled.

"Of course, y-you're right," she amended, falling into step with them. They walked in comfortable silence, Kiba hanging behind a little. They reached a crossroad and Hinata stammered a good-bye, branching away for the Hyuuga residence.

A few paces later, Shino stopped for Kiba. Without saying anything, he slipped Kiba's arm over his shoulders and helped support the moderately winded boy. Kiba stared reticently at their feet.

"I feel kinda bad for making her worry," he mumbled, shrugging, "She was doin' pretty good at the not stammering 'n stuff, but now..."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Shino responded, adjusting Kiba's weight on his shoulders to make using his crutch easier, "Hinata-san is stronger than you think."

"Che, of course," Kiba grinned, "I always forget that."

"I'll always remind you, in that case," Shino answered. They settled into comfortable silence.

"Hey, Shino, you're not planning on walking me all the way home, are you?" Kiba asked with a small, gruff laugh. Shino turned his head to his friend.

"If you need me to-"

"Nah, I'm good," Kiba said. Shino gave him a look, but he only flashed another unreadable grin and pulled away from Shino. He scratched the back of his head, holding the wide grin on his face, "Well, I'll see you 'round then, 'kay?"

Shino nodded. "Take care, Kiba."

"Yeah, yeah," he drawled, waving the concern away with a hand, strutting off.

_**- - -**_

Neither Tsume nor Hana were home when he arrived, so Kiba's greeting died away, unreciprocated. Sighing, he kicked off his shoes, adding them to the pile by the door, and trudged to his room, where Akamaru was waiting. Ruffling this ninken's fur Kiba flopped onto his bed, wondering where his family was. The dogs- other than Akamaru- weren't their either.

Oh.

They were probably on a mission, tracking Orochimaru's rats from before. About two weeks... it was taking them a long time.

"Akamaru," he moaned, rolling onto his side to face his dog, "I'm not a failure, am I?"

His companion heaved a nasally sigh. Kiba frowned.

"What kind of answer is that, 'Kamaru?"

Akamaru did it again. Kiba snatched a pillow and gave Akamaru a good whack with it.

"C'mon, damnit, I'm serious!" he shouted.

Akamaru whined and gave a soft bark.

_No_.

Kiba slowly lowered the pillow, fangs still bared. Silently, he shoved it under his head and turned his back to Akamaru. He wasn't entirely sure he believed Akamaru.

He certainly didn't agree with him.

* * *

**Whoo! So, I tried to make it longer, but my chapters tend to be pretty short... hmm, that's annoying. Oh well, from here on out you can expect the chapters to get longer as I try to cram more into each one 'cuz I did a really bad job planning out the storyline for this (whoot whoot).**

**On a side-note, the mission they were going on is one from the very beginning of the anime, I think. I'm not totally sure, but it's the one where team seven went to the farm place and Naruto was complaining and then Kakashi warned them about the giant leeches or something... yeah. The giant leeches were the 'danger' but... since Hinata never told Kiba the full thing before, his mind just supplied the danger of drowning!**

**Yeah, the first section was the dream incase I wasn't specific 'nuff (I tend to do that).**

**Lotsa love and thanks to my favorite, _Leviticus Lied_ for agreeing to be my BETA... she already did chappie one, and it was really helpful, so yay!**


	7. Chapter 7: I

**Chapter Summary:** Kiba's out of the hospital and eager to train, but Shino wants to wait first.

**Chapter Pairing(s):** Kiba x Shikamaru, referenced Chouji x Ino and Asuma x Kurenai

**Chapter Rating:** T for language and mild adult themes.

**Author's Notes:** Holy-be-Jesus, I've got FINALS coming up and I'm WRITING!? What the heck is wrong with me!!

Augh.

**Disclaimer:** If I owned it I would have to go to school anymore, I'd be so rich (probably).

* * *

**Always Knock First**

_Before you enter my life -- before you enter my heart._

* * *

7: Lovers and Friends

"Aah- it's great to be outta that damned hospital!" Kiba announced, stretching in his chair. Beside him, Shikamaru slurped quietly at his drink while Chouji, across from them, clapped his hands.

"I gotto agree with you there," Chouji said, smiling as broadly as he had since the moment they'd stepped into the barbeque restaurant, "It was getting kinda quiet without you."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and Kiba slapped his boyfriend on the back, causing him to choke.

"That's 'cuz Shikamaru here is so booring," he laughed. Shikamaru muttered around his straw and returned to slurping at his drink, this time glaring at Kiba instead of the table.

He'd kind of hoped to go out on a one-on-one date with Kiba when he'd gotten out of the hospital.

Kiba and Chouji had decided otherwise and he'd let them, but it didn't mean he wasn't going to make sure they knew how pissed off he was.

They didn't seem to care, much.

"Yosh! I want some real food now," Kiba barked, waving down a waitress, "All they fed me at that damned place was yoghurt and watery soup, though I vaguely remember Sakura brining me somethin' else... huh, that's odd. I can't really remember; wonder why."

Kiba scratched at a red triangle in thought.

"Morphine will do that," Shikamaru explained, pulling the straw out from between his teeth and examining the flattened end as Chouji ordered a large meal that he would probably end up paying for, "And it wasn't Sakura. I brought you muffins one morning."

Kiba snapped his fingers. "Oh! That's right, you did. I guess I never really thanked you, huh?"

Shikamaru shrugged, not caring so much about the thanking as he did the forgetting.

But it wasn't Kiba's fault, right?

Blame the morphine.

"Here, lemme thank you now, then!" Kiba's voice had lowered drastically, becoming slightly husky, and he practically jumped at Shikamaru, attempting to give his boyfriend a joking, wet kiss. Shikamaru wrinkled his nose and fought him.

"Kiba!" he exclaimed, "You don't have to- Kiba, not in public!"

"Oh, right," Kiba mumbled, pulling away, "Sorry. I forgot."

Shikamaru sighed. "It's alright."

The waitress, blushing almost as magenta as her hair, scurried away with the orders and Chouji examined his utensils.

Silence.

Kiba fidgeted.

He fidgeted again.

"So! Guess what I plan on doing as soon as we're through with this?"

Shikamaru shot him a look- Kiba was only tolerating being here? Where did Kiba really want to be?

Somewhere at the back of his head, a voice chirped that Kiba probably wanted to train with _Shino_. He never trained with _Shikamaru_.

Shikamaru scowled and swatted the aggravation away.

"What?" Chouji humored their friend, looking back up. Kiba grinned and wrapped an arm around the back of his chair, reclining.

"I'm gunna go train!"

Shikamaru scowled. "Oh, so you've decided to model yourself after Lee?"

Kiba was aghast, "What? No! That's insane. I could never train that much... well, I guess I could, but what's the point? I can use ninjutsu."

"You also use a lot of taijutsu with and for your ninjutsu," Shikamaru reminded him.

"Hey, hey, let's not fight," Chouji mediated. Shikamaru eyed his friend, then snorted and leaned back in his seat, crossing his legs. Kiba laughed.

"Naw, you know we weren't fighting, Chouj'," he said, "That's just the way we always act."

"No it's not," Shikamaru interjected crossly. Kiba's grin only widened.

"See?"

Chouji laughed; "Alright, you win. Ah! Food's here!"

"Arigatou!" Kiba exclaimed, grabbing a pork chop and making quick work of it. Shikamaru watched, mildly disgusted at Kiba's voracity.

He'd forgotten the state of the Inuzuka's manners.

Sighing, he put some food on his plate before it was all gone (which, between Kiba and Chouji, would happen very soon) and it was relatively quiet as the three ate.

About then, Naruto bobbed in.

"Kiba!" he shouted, clapping the Inuzuka on the back, who was in the middle of a bite of beef.

"N-Naruto!?" he choked, wiping his mouth and looking up at the boy. Naruto grinned down at him, hands on his hips.

"I heard you were let out of the hospital!" Naruto explained, pulling up a chair next to Chouji and sitting in it backwards, his chin hooked on the back. Kiba made a face.

"What're you, stalkin' me?" he spat, returning to his barbeque, "Or do you keep tabs on everyone who gets landed in the hospital?"

"What? No!" Naruto defended himself, "Just my friends. I mean, we're friends, right?"

"Of course," Kiba answered without hesitation, "But that doesn't mean you gotto keep tabs on me all the time."

Shikamaru frowned, folding his arms as he watched Kiba, Chouji, and Naruto banter for a bit, trailing the blonde when he got up and flounced away.

He had been too preoccupied with Kiba before, but wasn't Naruto supposed to be away, training with Jiraiya, or something?

He shrugged it off. Maybe Naruto was taking a vacation, thought it was a little early for that...

He swatted the annoying voice rattling on at the back of his head away.

"Well, I better be going," Kiba sighed, checking the clock. Shikamaru looked up from his musing.

"Don't over-exert yourself," he cautioned to Kiba's retreating back. Kiba raised a hand in both acknowledgement and dismissal and Shikamaru scoffed, shaking his head. He turned in his seat, propping both feet up on Kiba's now vacant chair, chewing on a toothpick.

"You shouldn't worry about him so much, Shikamaru," Chouji commented over one of the last wings, "He's a big boy."

Shikamaru snorted, reaching out and grabbing another wing, "Yeah, I know, Chouji. Sixteen... and he still won't accept the fact that his body has to have time to heal. I was serious when I compared him to Lee, you know."

Chouji laughed, wiping his mouth with a napkin, "Nah, they're really different."

Shikamaru shrugs. "Everyone is different from everyone. But there are also similarities. Kiba and Lee's is their dedication to training and their loves."

Chouji tilted his head, considering it for a moment. "Nah," he said, taking the last wing. Shikamaru sighed and put his half-finished wing on the plate, letting his head fall back, staring out the window.

If Kiba was nothing like Lee, then did that mean Kiba was not devoted to his love?

_**- - -**_

After picking Akamaru up from the Inuzuka compound, Kiba headed straight to where he and Shino always trained. Akamaru was extremely pleased to be out with Kiba again and jumped and yipped the whole way, leaping right onto Shino when they arrived at the clearing.

"Kiba, please call your mutt off of me," Shino said, a little muffled, from beneath a mound of Akamaru.

"Alright Akamaru, that's enough. We know you're excited to be out again," he laughed and Akamaru gave Shino a final lick before releasing the teen, "Sorry, Shino. I didn't know he would do that."

"Fair enough," Shino stated, sitting up and adjusting his glasses. Kiba frowned and tilted his head, scratching absently behind Akamaru's ear.

Shino had never fallen over because of Akamaru, before.

Shino reached over and grabbed his crutch, using it to hoist himself up.

Oh.

Kiba frowned; "How're you gunna be able to train like that?" he asked, gesturing to the crutch, his hand slipping from Akamaru's ear. Akamaru bounded off to torment some small rodent at the edge of the clearing.

Shino frowned at Kiba's bluntness- were he anyone else, he would most likely have been offended by the way Kiba said it. But he was Shino, and he only sighed. "I will manage."

Kiba grinned, cocking an eyebrow and hip coyly. "Seriously?"

Shino nodded. He glanced at Kiba, who dropped into a fighting stance, and uttered another long sigh, pushing his glasses up slightly to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Not sparring, Kiba," he intoned. A look of confusion passed over Kiba's face, and he rose from the stance. Akamaru wandered back over, a dead rat limp in his jaws. Kiba made a face and told Akamaru to go burry it somewhere, or something.

"Then what kind of training is there?" the younger teen asked, "I can't really train if I don't have an opponent. Akamaru's dynamic marking is spot-on, and that's really the only major variable in my fighting. After that everything's just followin' the scent."

"Have you forgotten our most recent fight so quickly?" Shino asked, shuffling away. Kiba came up behind Shino, peering over the boy's shoulder at the bug he was studying.

"Course I haven't," he said irately, "That's why I'm here to train! Are you gunna help me do it, or not?"

Shino straightened when the bug flew away, alarmed by Kiba's volume. He adjusted his glasses, putting his free hand in the pocket of his jacket. He limped to another tree. "Of course I am."

"Then what're we going to do?"

"I'm going to study insects, until my legs are better," Shino informed him, leaning over another insect, muttering it's scientific name under his breath and moving on to another. Kiba growled.

"What am _I_ going to do?"

Shino straightened, adjusting the crutch under his arm (it was one of Lee's old crutches, and a little too short for him). "I don't know."

Akamaru barked loudly, bounding into Kiba, who stumbled a few steps, laughed, and ruffed Akamaru's fur playfully. "Careful there, 'Kamaru!"

The ninken yipped and circled Kiba's legs. Kiba returned to glaring Shino down, though much of the intensity was lost and it was almost a comical look. Shino wrinkled his nose and Kiba broke out in grins.

"Ha! I know that look," he exclaimed and Shino quickly rearranged his face, but it was too late, Kiba was continuing, "You wrinkle your nose where other people woulda laughed, you weirdo!"

Shino frowned this time.

"What is so weird about that?"

Kiba shrugged. "Most people would just laugh, bug freak."

Shino shook his head and turned away, back to his bugs. Kiba scowled.

"All right, all right. I take it back," he muttered, "You don't gotta get all touchy about it. Geez."

Shino scoffed softly, adjusting the crutch again. Kiba waited.

His patience wore out quickly; "So what am I gunna _do_, bug freak?"

"I said, I don't know."

"Then let's practice that see-pee-whatever-it-is that you used to save me," Kiba said, folding his arms, "If you ever drown..." he hesitated, remembering his dream. He shook it away, starting with a new breath; "If you ever drown, I want to be able to save you."

Shino turned to Kiba, leaning a little due to his crutch, and fixed the boy with a look.

"No."

"Why not?" Kiba whined, "I know you're the all-mighty, indestructible Shino, but that doesn't mean I couldn't ever be able to save you!" After a moment, "And what about Hinata, or Kurenai? What if they drowned and you weren't there and it was just me to save them, huh?"

Shino fidgeted with the crutch, "No."

"Whhyyy?" Kiba whined, proudly displaying his kicked-Akamaru face. Shino rolled his eyes behind the shades, but Kiba knew the look.

"Because."

"Because _why_?" Kiba pressed, edging closer. Shino leaned away.

"Your breathing passages are not yet fully healed," he said, "CPR falls under the umbrella of things you should not do for at least another week."

Kiba scowled. "Damn Sakura! Damn Tsunade-baa-chan!" He stormed around the clearing for a while, blowing steam, and Shino watched, hoping the Inuzuka would not squash any bugs.

"Damnit, screw myself!" Kiba finally wound down, sitting in the middle of the clearing, arms and legs folded. Shino limped over and stood beside Kiba, not looking at the boy.

"I have thought of something for you to do," he said at long last. Kiba didn't look up.

"Oh?" he said.

"Oh," Shino answered.

"Aren't you going to tell me?" Kiba sighed, poking at the dirt with a toe.

"Yes," Shino said after a moment, accommodating the crutch in a way where he could get both hands in their pockets. "Tactics. We will work on your strategy and tactics when fighting."

Kiba groaned, flopping back in the dirt (Shino vaguely wondered how the Inuzuka could be so unconcerned about the dirt that would undoubtedly get in his hair and down his clothes); "For a whole fuckin' week?"

"Yes, for a whole..." Shino hesitated at the profanity, "week."

Kiba snorted and rolled onto his side, sand clinging to the back of his jacket. Shino fought the urge to wipe it off.

"Fine," Kiba sighed through his nose, "But that still stinks."

Shino shrugged. He didn't care what Kiba thought of it, as long as Kiba's body got the chance to heal fully.

"What about 'Kamaru?" Kiba mumbled, picking at a tuft of grass. Shino watched him do it.

"I can send Kikaichu for him to track," Shino suggested. Kiba shrugged.

"Sounds okay to me," he mumbled dejectedly, tiring of the grass and returning to drawing in the dirt. Shino shook his head and sent out a good number of Kikaichu for Akamaru to find. Kiba sat up and waved Akamaru off, who was only too happy to have something to do, and bounded off.

"Oh!"

Both boys looked in the direction of the exclamation and ensuing loud fwump as a body hit the ground.

"Hinata?" Kiba asked, getting up and dusting off his butt as he walked over.

"Y-yes," Hinata answered, getting up and brushing herself off, blushing, "Akamaru just came running past and I... fell, I guess."

Kiba laughed, "Yeah, sorry. Didn't know you were coming.

"Hinata-sama," Shino greeted.

"Shino-kun," she acknowledged with a nod.

"Don't feel bad 'bout it, Hinata," he said, "Shino here fell over, too! Course, Akamaru _jumped_ on him, but it's all the same in the end, right? You both fell."

Hinata blushed and covered her mouth as she giggled. Kiba grinned proudly, ignoring the sharp glare Shino shot him with ease. Shino sighed.

"It is good you arrived just now," he said, "We were about to begin training."

Hinata eyed the crutch, a look of perplexity creeping over her face.

"Tactics and strategy!" Kiba explained happily. She made an 'oh', face and followed them back to the clearing.

"Oh, I forgot," Shino said suddenly, stopping and Kiba ran into his back, muttering and rubbing his nose. "Did you speak with Naruto-san?"

A blush spread across her face again, a deeper red than before and she pushed her index fingers together. "K-kind of. Why?"

"I was wondering if you knew why Naruto-san was here. I was under the impression he had left to train with Jiraiya-sama for two years."

"You're right," Hinata said, "B-but N-n-n-naruto-kun said he was here on vacation."

"Ah, right," Shino said, "I suppose that makes sense."

Kiba snorted. "That's absurd. Naruto wouldn't come back after less than half-a-year."

"It's only for a v-visit, Kiba-kun," Hinata reminded him. Kiba snorted again and shrugged.

"Whatever. Ignore the dog, I get it."

"That's not what she meant, Kiba," Shino said. Kiba waved it off.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, "Let's just get this damned training over with."

* * *

**I think I'm getting better at making longer chapters... (this was nine pages in word) and... I covered everything I needed to, so yay for me!**

**Hmm... a bit of ranting about my life then, since I didn't do it in the Author's Notes...**

**The school band concert was this Friday (yesterday, I guess) and my parents were there. I went to point out the guy I like, 'cuz Mother has been bugging me to know since forever, but I didn't realize that he was right next to me until after I had pointed and said (rather loudly) "That's him!" and he was like, "huh?"**

**Yeah... so embarrassing!**


End file.
